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Mutiny
Episode 3, Season 6 of War. Enjoy! <3 Mutiny I stretch my paws forward, feeling a little peckish still. "I'm going to go look for a mouse or something. Anyone else want something?" "I'll go get it," Oakclaw pops up. I give him a scathing look. "I can do it you know. You don't have to treat me like I'm going to break if I try to stand up." "Why would I treat you like that?" Oakclaw gives a high-pitched little laugh and practically runs into the forest. As soon as he's gone, Shadowsong and Snowflight snort with laughter. I glare at them, "Oh, don't pretend like he's the only one." Shadowsong doesn't look at me. "Doing what?" "Treating me like I'm a kit, not someone who's going to have them!" Immediately, everyone starts contradicting me, but I shout over them. "It's not a big deal! I still have a moon and a freaking half!" "But...but you're going to..." Grayleaf tries to explain and I roll me eyes. "Yes, I'm going to have kits. How is that so disgusting? I mean, where do you think you all came from? I'm going to have kits!" Oakclaw comes back into the clearing as I say the last sentence, carrying a mouse. His eyes widen a little and he mutters something about getting more mice and darts back into the forest. I huff, "Why is this such a big deal?" "It's just..." Snowflight picks her words, as always, carefully. "We're so used to you just being...you. Not you and...passengers. You're growing up and no one wants to admit that." "Or think about you, you know. Kitting," Stormflight adds helpfully. I ignore the gray tom. "Wow, thanks. The she-cat who's been hanging out with us for a moon can explain it better than any of the rest of you." Snowflight flinches a little and I mutter, "No offense." "It's okay," Adderscar says. "Kits mess up she-cat's brains. It'll only get worse." "Oh for the love of StarClan..." I stalk off to the den and curl up in my nest, still feeling too hung up to sleep. See, the thing is, I thought I was great with this. Giving up being a warrior for a while, okay, I can do it. Having the kits, maybe I can ask about poppy seeds. I could handle everything. But with everyone treating me so...weird...it's getting to me. What am I going to do when they're born? What if something goes wrong? What if they get sick? What if I get sick and something goes wrong before they're born? What if we're not ready? What if Gorsefur lets Oakclaw watch them? How are we going to do this? What if something happens to me? What if something happens to Gorsefur? Whenever I start thinking about these things, it feels like something's pressing down on my chest and I have to just stop thinking and breathe. That's what I do not, taking deep breaths until I feel grounded again. Maybe Adderscar's right... I groan and roll over, careful of my stomach, and try to will myself to sleep. We start walking in the morning. Back to Main, back to normal life. Well, probably normal. I'm still reeling from finding out that Badgerstrike told FireClan that I killed Firestar. Sure, it may protect me from most of them, but there will be cats who want to hunt me down and kill me. If WaterClan has any idea, they'll try to make me some kind of war hero. I don't want that. I want to be the she-cat who goes on all these adventures but never actually has to deal with any of the true insanity. But, our lives kind of tend to be insanity. Adderscar picks it up first. He stops walking and pricks his ear for a moment. Gorsefur looks over his shoulder. "You okay?" Shaking his head, the ginger tom flattens his ears a little. "Look...we're in a part of our territory with no camps nearby. Dead zone." "So?" Oakclaw asks. "So, why aren't there more noises?" Adderscar looks at us. "There should be squirrels, birds, mice...but there's not. It means-" "That someone else is here," my eyes go wide. Adderscar nods, but Shadowsong shakes her head. "We're not near the border. Who would be here?" "Refugees?" Grayleaf guesses. Suddenly, there's a yowl. We all crouch, a bristling circle as a couple dozen cats pour in the clearing from the surrounding area; the trees, the bushes, the grass. A young, handsome black tom steps forward. His eyes are a pale, cold blue. He gives us a wry grin. "Not quite." "It's been like four hours," Stormflight sighs. "Would you shut up?" Adderscar has his ears pointed to the mouth of the cave, where a few guards stand talking quietly. "It's been like two hours," Snowflight mutters. Stormflight sticks his tongue out at her and she glares at him. Gorsefur sighs and leans against a wall, "Any luck Grayleaf?" Since the tom's the littlest, he's trying to find any holes in the back of the cave we can use to get out. His voice drifts back to us. "Nope..." Oakclaw growls, "I still think we could've taken them." "Not without casualties," Gorsefur meows softly, doing his best not to look at me. Oakclaw has no inhibitions. He looks over at me and murmurs, "Oh, yeah. Sorry." "I will kill you," I hiss. "Shut up!" Adderscar commands. "How am I supposed to figure anything out if you imbeciles just keep talking?" "You could ask," someone drawls. Adderscar jerks his head up and the tom from before steps into the cave, two warriors flanking him. "Sorry about the rough treatment, we just had to make sure you weren't any of their lot." "They...?" Shadowsong asks. "FireClan." "So you are refugees?" Grayleaf asks, reappearing beside Stormflight. His fur is a little smudged, gray streaked with brown. I see him shake his head quickly at Gorsefur. "No, we're not. I'm Crowcall. And I would be correct in assuming you are WaterClan?" Gorsefur slowly nods. Crowcall sighs, "See, I was afraid of that." "...why?" Snowflight tips her head and I can only imagine what kind of carnage she's planning if she doesn't like the answer. "You're WaterClan too." It's not a question. "I can smell it." "Well," Crowcall looks at the tom next to him, whose whiskers twitch like there's a secret joke. "That depends if you want to be technical or not." "Oh, just stop being mysterious," Shadowsong snaps. "We get it. You have about five seconds to explain before we decide we're tired of being nice." Crowcall looks at her for a moment, then purrs. "Well, technically, we are loyal WaterClan cats. Always will be." "I'm sensing a 'but'..." I mutter. "However," Crowcall continues, winking at me. "We're not really...on the best terms with Main Camp." "Why not?" Adderscar asks, his eyes narrowed. "We're rebels," Crowcall explains. "We don't want this war and we're doing everything we can to stop it." I'm shocked- I've never heard of this. Of course, there were always cats who would protest and stuff, but an organized rebellion? Impossible. Apparently it is to the others as well. I'm pleased to not be the last one to know something for once. "That's what we're doing too," Gorsefur finally says. "Fighting FireClan so we can all go home soon." "But we're not fighting FireClan," Crowcall corrects pleasantly. "You're fighting WaterClan," I breathe. "I'm starting to see which one of you is what they call the brains of this operation," Crowcall purrs. Over his shoulder, I see Adderscar open his mouth and I glare at him until he closes it again. "But why?" I ask. "I mean...how does that solve things quicker than just helping us win the war?" "That," Crowcall says. "Is a very lengthy debate I have no time to get into. I'm willing to talk to your...what is it? General? Commander? But I'm afraid I'm probably not going to be able to let you all leave, if you catch my drift." "Our luck is a piece of dirt," Shadowsong mutters. Gorsefur stands and wordlessly pads over to the rebels. He doesn't look back as they take him out of the cave. "You all seem like nice cats," Crowcall said. "It'd be a real shame to have to kill you. But you should know, that if you try to do anything to me, try to get into anything you shouldn't, you're all dead. Understand?" Gorsefur nodded, though his eyes continued to wander around the camp. It was pretty well organized- dens and piles of prey. Even a spicy-scented den he guessed was the medicine den. But it was all so...temporary. All the dens were either in cracks in the rocks, caves, hollowed out trees, or easily breakable. Probably so they could move around if they had to. Most of the dens he passed were full of kits or elders. Frail warriors and disabled cats. He only saw a dozen or so able bodied warriors and he wondered how this little band of dissenters would ever get anything done. Crowcall led him up to a cave a little ways away from the others. He ducked inside and Gorsefur, without hesitation, followed. The guards remained outside. "So, what's your name again?" Crowcall asked, settling down and looking at a piece of squirrel, debating. "Gorsefur," the tom replied, sitting. "Well, Gorsefur, I'm in a bit of a bind. Y'see, I really don't like killing cats like you. I mean, you're just following orders. Doing your job. But I can't take the risk that you'll go back to your betters and tell them about us. See?" "What's your plan?" Gorsefur asked. Crowcall blinked, obviously not expecting him to be so direct. "I mean, you have this camp and that's great, but you only have so many warriors and I really don't see how you can perform an actual revolution with these numbers." Crowcall simply shook his head, like Gorsefur was a kit who'd said something particularly naive. "We have an idea. Others agree with us, they're just too scared to stand up." "But why hide out here? Why not go to Waterstar and try to talk sense?" "You think they care?" Crowcall choked out a laugh. "They like the blood, they don't care who dies. How many innocent FireClan cats die? How many innocent WaterClan?" "So how are you doing anything by staying out here?" Gorsefur asked. Crowcall suddenly stood, fur bristling, teeth bared. "Do you think you understand this? How many cats have you killed in the last moon? The past season? Your life?" Gorsefur flinched, though he was furious at himself for letting himself show any emotion. Crowcall pressed his advantage, "See? Either you're like me- you want peace, you want it no matter what the personal cost- or you're like them- you like it. Like the blood." Though he tried not to, Gorsefur felt himself doubting. Hadn't he told Aquasplash, hadn't he always wanted to save the world? And how could he do that if he was a murderer? A monster? "Now," Crowcall settled back down, energy spent. "We need more warriors. So these are your choices: you can join us, or we'll execute all of you as traitors to WaterClan." Gorsefur looked up, eyes wide. "No, you don't understand...my mate, she's pregnant." Crowcall leaned back, looking at him, "Then I guess you better start thinking." "This is the stupidest thing," Oakclaw muttered. "We should just break out." "Look, they're harmless," Snowflight replied. "Just let them play their game and then we can go." "They're not harmless!" Oakclaw yelped. "They're...they're traitors!" Snowflight looked at him dismissively, "Seriously? What part of wanting peace makes a cat a traitor?" "The part where it involves betraying your Clan!" "It's not really betrayal," Adderscar points out, "Though it is an incredibly inefficient way of fighting. No one will take them seriously, because they'll consider them traitors. Even if by some StarClan blessed miracle they manage to save us all and stop the war, they'll still go down as the villains." "What do you think?" Oakclaw turns to Shadowsong for support. She looks at her paws, "You really think I'm the best to advise on Clan betrayals?" "I don't see why it's wrong," Grayleaf says. "Maybe the way they're doing it isn't the best, but aren't we all fighting for the same thing?" "Well, you're a medicine cat," Oakclaw meows. "Of course you would say that." "Hey!" Stormflight interrupts. "He's not the only one who thinks that." Oakclaw just kind of looks at him and Stormflight sighs. "If there was no war, I wouldn't have had to meet my badger of a father, Shadowsong wouldn't be half-FireClan, we wouldn't have so many freaks chasing us around-" "We wouldn't know each other," Shadowsong says softly. "The only thing war does is make the cats who aren't fighting it feel good," Snowflight argues. "The cats who actually suffer? What good is it doing them? When I had to do that prison break at Main-" "Woah," Shadowsong interrupts. "You don't get to use times you almost killed me in the argument." "Well, technically-" Snowflight sighs. "Okay, fine." "What do you think?" Grayleaf looks at me. "Brookfall?" Stormflight snorts. "She's in our camp. Definitely." "Actually," I say softly. "I think I'm with Oakclaw on this one." Gorsefur took a steadying breath. Easy... "Look, Crowcall, it's just...even if you have six more cats- well, no, five more, if you take out the medicine cat and my mate- how are you going to do anything?" "That's-" "Look," Gorsefur meowed. "I think what you're trying to do is right. I wish I could stand with you, but I want to be out in the field helping cats. Not slinking around in the forest plotting." Crowcall was glaring at him now and Gorsefur, though he realized he should probably stop, barreled on. "The best thing you can do for these cats- if you don't want them to be found or drafted- is take them out of here. To AirClan or the Wilds or something." "You have no idea-" "You have no idea! I mean...have you ever actually done any missions? Besides attacking random patrols as they try to do important things? You have no idea what war is like, and that's why this little rebel thing will never work." Standing, Crowcall looked at him with narrowed eyes. "So that's a no?" Oh, dirt... "You what?" "Why is it okay for Oakclaw and Adderscar to say it but not me?" I snap. "You're just...why?" Stormflight asks. I look at my paws. "I want peace but..." How can I say it without sounding like a monster? All the things I've seen, the things engrained on the back of my eyelids so that the never go away, even if I'm asleep...Gorsefur, bleeding and broken. Riverkit wailing for me. Shadowsong and Oakclaw, separated by fire. Silverflower's blue eyes turning to glass. Badgerstrike begging for forgiveness. My mother. The last thing she ever said was my name, as my camp fell around me. "...I can't," I finally say. "It's hard." Stormflight opens his mouth, but we're saved from having to answer when a rebel pads in, "Everyone out, let's go." We get to our feet and shove our way into sunshine. The rebel camp is empty, but I can see eyes peering at us from dens. Across the small clearing, I see Gorsefur and Crowcall padding back towards us. Gorsefur is walking a little ahead of the black tom and it looks like he's trying to say something. I tip my head, trying to hear him, but I can't. Crowcall stops half a foxlength away from us and Gorsefur walks over to me. "You have to run," he whispers urgently. And that's when I realize that's what he was saying. He couldn't make Crowcall see sense. "Fleetfoot," Crowcall yowls. "Take a patrol, take them near a camp and kill them. Make sure it sends a message." A huge pale gray tom nods and stands, waving his tail at some other warriors. A white she-cat narrows her yellow eyes at Crowcall, "What if they try to run?" Crowcall looks at us, then nods at Adderscar, "Him." Oakclaw crouches in front of Adderscar, "Yeah, no, not happening." There are so many rebels though, and, though we're all yowling and fighting and clawing, Adderscar gets pinned down by the huge tom. Clinically, the tom grabs one of Adderscar's legs with his jaws and wrenches it. Again. And again. And then there's a huge snap and the tom steps away and Adderscar's not moving and I'm screaming and I can't even- Gorsefur's eyes swim in front of me. "We're going to be okay. We're going to get through this. Say it." "We're going to get through this," I whisper. Gorsefur steps away and I take a shuddering breath. Shadowsong and Oakclaw are struggling to get to Crowcall and Grayleaf has darted over to Adderscar. I follow and nearly vomit at the sight in front of me- Adderscar's long leg, the shoulder where the pale scar from an adder's bite sits, is smeared with blood. Bone sticks out of it. "StarClan..." Snowflight whispers. "Take them," Crowcall orders. "Long live WaterClan!" Half dragged, half marched, we get out of the camp. Stormflight and Oakclaw are carrying Adderscar and Grayleaf trots alongside them, trying to get a good look at the break. Adderscar's eyes are glassy, but he's not making a sound. I look at the cats around us, and I don't see a shred of sympathy in their eyes. They think we're the bad guys. They think we're wrong. That we deserve this. The urge to gut them is so strong, I can hardly stand it. But I do, repeating Gorsefur's mantra in my head. We're going to be okay. We're going to get through this... I'm not sure how long it is before I feel Oakclaw's nudge. I look over at him and he nods at Shadowsong who nods at Gorsefur who nods at me. Apparently there is a plan. "I need a break," Oakclaw murmurs to Stormflight, but loud enough so the rebels can hear. Gently, he sets Adderscar down. The rebels watch us uneasily and I survey them for the first real time. These are their best warriors. And they're in a sad state. There's the monstrous pale gray tom, and a few other worthy opponents, but for the most part, these cats are skinny and flea-bitten. It's amazing, really. One of the only times we've ever been so in sync. As Oakclaw stretches, the rebels all glance at him. And then the rest of us are in the air, Grayleaf standing over Adderscar. I slash at a rebel, aiming for the eyes. They wail and dart away and I slash out for another opponent. Shadowsong is next to me, doing her best to shield me from most of the blows. She dives in front of a she-cat who aims for my spine while I tussle with another cat and takes the blow. Oakclaw and Gorsefur are carving their way through the ranks as well. The pale gray tom is struggling to stand, bleeding from several wounds. A well placed scratch from Oakclaw sends him howling away. Snowflight pins down a burly tom beside me, "You doing okay?" "This is my life," I reply through gritted teeth, as I claw some cat in the shoulder. They sprint away shrieking. Wimp. And then it's just us. Panting, eyes wide, paws bloody. And then, almost as one, we all lunge for where Grayleaf is crouched over Adderscar. He steps aside, crouching down near the leg. "Is he going to be okay?" I ask. Grayleaf hesitates and I swear my heart stops. But he finally nods. "It's not a clean break. But if we can get him to Main Camp...they can set it, maybe give him some medicine..." "But he won't ever walk again." Snowflight meows softly. "Right?" Grayleaf looks at Adderscar's crumpled form, then shrugs. "I really don't know. He's not a warrior, he's not constantly running and fighting and...doing whatever it is you all do. But he...he won't be the same." "Adderscar?" Gorsefur looks at him, then breathes out in relief. "I think he's unconscious." There's a pause, then a groggy voice meows, "No I'm not, you idiot. I really wish I was though." Shadowsong rolls her eyes, "StarClan..." "Does it hurt?" Stormflight asks nervously. Adderscar glares at him through pain-hazy green eyes. "No, it feels like sunshine and dandelions. Wanna trade?" Oakclaw's whiskers twitch a little, "Why'd they pick Adderscar, if we wanted to run we'd probably just leave him behind anyways." But there's a sheen of relief in his eyes as he and Stormflight gently lift up Adderscar, making sure his leg stays off the ground. "Must have been my dashing good looks," Adderscar mutters, eyes closing. "I don't know..." Shadowsong teases. Adderscar doesn't reply, except for a soft snore. We all breathe a sigh of thanks. "What do we do now?" I ask Gorsefur as we pad. He narrows his eyes in concentration. "We're not too far from Main. We can make it." "I meant about the rebels." He clenches his jaw. "Well, I hope they took my advice and beat it. Because as soon as we get Adderscar taken care of, I'm taking a patrol there and making sure they don't come back." "Oh," I slow a little, then continue walking. "Good." Gorsefur looks at me, "No anti-revenge speeches?" I blink and I see it all. Gorsefur, Riverkit, Shadowsong, Oakclaw, Silverflower, Badgerstrike, Adderscar, my mother... I give a bitter laugh, "I'm not as innocent as you think." Category:Artimas Hunter's Fanfics